what are your thoughts on converting a 74 front bumper to a 73 while leaving the 74 rear bumper in place? I have already painted the car and removing the rear bumper leaves a lot of "holes". I can install a 73 front bumper quite easily without repairing any paint work! I din't know if it is just me but I always felt the front bumper on large bumper cars appears to "stick out" farther than the rear bumper!
The front bumper was designed to seat 3 adults comfortabley, making that year's Maverick an 8-passenger vehicle. Ford got a great tax break as I recall.
I'm thinking of using a 73 front on the car I am building for my 15 year old daughter. I do like the small bumpers better but like the extra metal out front of the bigger bumpers for her. I also don't like the way they stick out so far so I am going to slide the 73 bumper back as far as I can. There are several posts on here about sliding them back so do a search on i clint
THe way young kids drive these days, I'd leave the big bumpers on for awhile anyway. JMO. Also I dont see why you couldn't just cut the big bumper stone guard down to use with a small bumper.
mavaholic, I think you can cut the stone guard down when converting from 74 to 73. It may be more difficult if going from 74 to 72. The 73 provides more protection than the 72 and it doesn't look as big as the 74. I found that the 73 will bolt to the 74 bumper shocks. The rear bumper is where the real problems exist. There are quite a few holes that would not be used for conversion to 72. If you convert to 73 you need the strange looking year specific 73 rear bumper fillers and mounts. If I converted the rear I would likely go with 72 brackets and eliminate the 73 rear fillers! I don't think most would notice that difference. So, Rick, the 74-77 mavericks were the original modern SUV? Ford_Motorheads, the bumper slide is still an option! cdeal, I wouldn't change my mind based solely on others comments but I have to admit I think it may look a little funny myself! Ford motorheads, do a search using "bumper slide"
